Altered Beast, Shinobi, and other Sega games to be adapted into movies and series

Despite the underwhelming performance of big- and small-screen adaptations of video game properties thus far, many companies are still testing the creative waters to determine if their game franchises can make a successful leap to the movie and television worlds. Sega is the latest company to give it a shot with a new deal that involves several of its most popular classic properties.

Variety reports that Sega has partnered with a prominent Japanese advertising agency to produce live-action and animated movies and digital series based on a long list of titles from the game company’s library, including Altered Beast (pictured), Shinobi, and Streets of Rage, among others.

As part of the deal, the newly created Stories International will oversee development of various adaptations of game properties as English-language movies and series for digital platforms. Along with the three aforementioned titles, the report indicates that Rise of Nightmares, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Fighter, and Golden Axe are also being developed into live-action and animated projects.

The report doesn’t indicate exactly which games are being developed as live-action or animated projects, or which titles are slated to become standalone movies or series. However, the deal does give Sega a significant amount of control over how its properties are being brought to the screen — in much the same way game companies like Ubisoft and Electronic Arts have established with some of their own properties.

There’s no word on when we’ll see any of the Sega projects go into production or where/when they’ll be released at this point.